HVTechFest’21 Hackathon as Data Centric Problem Solving Experience

Data-centric problem solving is not a part of the Hudson Valley culture. The technologies have low awareness, acceptance and application throughout the region. Colleges struggle to find internships and placement opportunities for students. Access to non-traditional training and education in technology and the digital space are rare. The Digital Divide in Poughkeepsie, Newburgh and Kingston is closely linked to poverty in those small cities.

For instance, the City of Newburgh has a 2018 per capita income of $18,629 with 29.5% people in poverty. Only 57% of low-income households have computers, and 49% have internet access at home. 52% are Spanish speaking, many lack basic computer skills. This Digital Divide hinders access to information and essential services, diminishes civic and cultural participation, reduces employment opportunities, and prevents upward mobility.

Another way to look at the situation is to examine specific industries. For example, the hospitality industry, a major employer in the region, suffers from a lack of awareness about how data can be analyzed to inform decision making. One result is that graduates of training programs have difficulty finding job opportunities and employers have trouble finding qualified workers to fill the demand for seasonal, part time and full time jobs. and specialty event venues struggle to locate workforce on demand. There is a lack of networking opportunities and industry specific job boards while existing non-targeted job boards are underutilized and matchmaking apps are non-existent.

Open Data can be utilized by all industries and improve decision making for regional Economic development in general, for local municipalities, businesses, and civic society. Applying data visualization and GIS mapping can reveal gaps and opportunities, simplify strategizing and decision making, used for story telling and forming regional agenda.

Hackathons introduce the public to the benefits of a data-centric culture. They are short, intense process-oriented challenges that demonstrate how social/civic problems can be addressed using digital technologies. As such they:

• Create awareness of the opportunities offered by cutting-edge technology,
• Demonstrate how data can be used to analyze many situations,
• Inform decision-makers about the benefits the technologies,
• Provide participants a resume building exercise they can use to gain internships and employment,
• Link employers with skilled workers,
• Provide tech workers with a collaborative experience that fosters agile workflow skills

A Hackathon is a foundational building block addressing the social ills and employer inefficiencies caused by inequitable distribution of technological opportunity.

In an increasingly digital world, many businesses now require employees to work remotely, and as schools and universities close their doors, learning has also moved online / hybrid. This is especially true after Covid-19, and it seems it will stay here from now on. Digital skills and remote lifestyle are now widely accepted.

Technology has added a new digital dimension to inequality. This is not a binary divide: new levels of connectivity are leading to a range of different digital inclusions and exclusions. These often reflect, reproduce and amplify divides which exist between socio-economic classes, ethnicities, and genders, etc.

Digital technologies are advancing at an accelerated pace. The HVTechFest Hackathon is consciously designed to be inclusive, accessible to all including the most disadvantaged. There are both Technical and Non-Technical roles in each team, allowing for participation by anyone interested in the problems and using digital technology to address them.

As a demonstration project, the Hackathon proves the power of non-traditional training to key decision-makers.

The third Hudson Valley Tech Hackathon was held virtually on October 29–30th on Zoom and Discord. The theme was “Digital Collaboration: Using Open Data For Social Good ‘’. Most participants came from the Hudson Valley while others around the world joined in a weekend of learning, coding, problem-solving, and productive collaboration.

The Hackathon emphasis theme, “GIS Mapping for Social Good”, challenged participants in the Hackathon to address a real-world problem that could be improved with an interactive mapping solution. Individuals attending the Hudson Valley Tech Festival learned by doing, experimenting, and connecting with tech experts.

The event started with Pre-Hack workshops on Design Thinking and Open Data. These gave the participants a foundation to build upon. The Kick-Off presentation by tech educator Dr. Andrea Tejedor on the value of the Hackathon for creating inclusivity in our currently digital world set the tone. Dr. Cynthia Marcello then presented in a workshop an overview of data analytics and GIS mapping, and rolled out the tool kit she compiled to assist the teams with finding and scraping data from the internet, implementing GIS libraries, and general coding resources.

Next, the challenge was introduced. Participants pitched their ideas to the group, which were examined, classified, massaged and combined until consensus was formed about the problems to be addressed. Then teams were formed and everyone set off to work.

Three problem areas proposed by the participants were selected:

• Anonymous Hiring.
• You Aut to Join Us — Autism Cares, and
• Transportation Data Project.

The tasks need to address these problems included how to:

• Connect and engage people seeking to locate information, find local goods and services, and align with the businesses and organizations offering them.
• Improve the regions’ resilience, empowering users and makers.
• Support an open data information initiative that utilizes existing county-by-county data and datasets provided by OpenData NY.
• Collaborate by sharing relevant data with consumers and producers to support the local economy.

Twenty hours of hard work and collaborative development followed. By the afternoon of the second day all the teams were ready to present their projects to the judges to decide who won which prize.

The ‘Workforce Development’ prize, sponsored by the Workforce Development Institute, was won by the “Anonymous Hiring Hack”. They created an innovative new plan and website to eliminate bias in hiring. The website is designed to show employers only the skills of the person they are potentially hiring, and not their name, race, gender, or other personally identifiable information. Pitch deck and the app code

The ‘Best GIS Hack’ prize was won by the “Transportation Data Project”. They created a tool that would help municipalities assist small businesses in identifying suitable locations for a business. Using Open Data, R, and Python they interpreted traffic data into a useful and accessible form that people could use to see the amount and types of traffic in any specific area. Business owners could use this to determine if a location is right for them. Pitch deck, the app code.

The ‘Best Overall Community Hack’ prize was won by the “You Aut To Join Us — Autism Cares Team” for a functioning website to help autistic people and their supporters find resources. It features educational games in a visual format tailored to autistic people that help them learn life skills, a geolocation map that finds resources and institutions for autistic people in any area, links to blogs of those living with autism, information on the condition, and a place for people to come together in a supportive and inclusive environment. Website

Monetary prizes of $1,200 were awarded to three winning team members. 5 free scholarships worth $499 each were awarded to 5 students who can use them to take an OpenHub’s courses in Intro to Python, Data Visualization with Python, or Intro to Artificial Intelligence.

All teams were awarded with 2 hours of mentorship and free consultations with VC.